“An accomplished artist and creative director, Walentas played a critical role in nurturing DUMBO’s artistic renaissance for more than 30 years.” As her husband, David, redeveloped the district’s old warehouses, “she sponsored local artists, brought arts programs to the Brooklyn neighborhood, and dedicated her life’s work to restoring the 1922 carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park that’s named in her honor.” – Brooklyn Paper
Tag: 07.08.20
Spokane Symphony Administrator Resigns After Racist Conspiracy Theory Tweets Are Exposed
Bethany Schoeff-Cotter is a classically trained oboist and married to the symphony’s general manager – and was the personnel manager for 11 years. In her tweets, she “referred to the Black Lives Matter movement as ‘a disease on this country’ and suggested the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis is a hoax designed to influence this year’s elections. Schoeff-Cotter also called those who wear masks to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus ‘idiots’ and accused Microsoft founder Bill Gates of a plot to force vaccines and microchips on the American public.” – The Spokane Spokesman-Review
Reality TV Is Only Now Starting To Grapple With Its Deeply Ingrained Racism
And it’s an intense reckoning, after two white stars of a Real Housewives spinoff were fired when news went public that they had “called the police on former castmate Faith Stowers in 2018 in an attempt to implicate her in a crime she did not commit.” Some of the dominos may be starting to fall – but “as is the case in many corners of the entertainment industry, the ones with greenlight power are also still overwhelmingly white.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Immersive, Live, Virtual-Reality Theater Is Here (So How Is It?)
“The show, The Under Presents: Tempest, is a technological first: a live, scripted, participatory play that you attend, from home, using a virtual reality headset. After buying a $14.99 ticket (an in-app purchase inside an esoteric virtual reality game, The Under Presents), and powering up at a set time, you arrive in a virtual theater lobby, with your avatar clad in a black cloak and glowing mask. You can’t speak, but you can gesture. A live actor … leads you and six or seven other audience members to a firepit in the Hollywood Hills, then to Prospero’s island, then back to the firepit for marshmallows and a dance party. … Live actors and live audience members meeting in a shared space at precisely timed intervals. [It] sounds like theater. Sometimes, it even feels like theater. Is this a brave new world for live performance? Or just another app?” – The New York Times
FBI Raids Alleged Art Forgery Factory Deep In The North Woods
“The raid Tuesday and Wednesday targeted … Donald ‘D.B’ Henkel, 60, a self-described artist who is accused in a sealed FBI search warrant affidavit of orchestrating a years-long conspiracy involving previously unknown paintings by well-known artists and counterfeit sports memorabilia. … Federal law enforcement officials are calling [the scheme] a national crime ring with conspirators operating in Metro Detroit and at least three other states.” – The Detroit News
Conductor Victor Feldbrill, 96, Champion Of Canadian Composers
Did he become a great conductor? No, he became a valuable conductor, championing the work of Canadian composers more than any of his contemporaries did. He knew the composers on a personal level, worked with them on their premieres and during his decade as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra starting in 1958, he set a precedent that has sadly not been followed of making Canadian music a regular feature of his programming. – Toronto Star
How Instagram Changed How We Looked At The World
“Instagram was one of the first apps to fully exploit our relationship with our phones, compelling us to experience life through a camera for the reward of digital validation.” – New Statesman
Melbourne Won’t Ease COVID Restrictions, Arts Companies Cancel Plans
“We were going to do two sittings each night and the shows sold out straight away. We knew there was an appetite among audiences to come back. But when restrictions weren’t relaxed, we had to cancel. This is our business now – planning with enough flexibility and contingency so that you can shift or delay if you have to. We’re having to delve deep into our reserves of resilience as well as our creativity.” – The Guardian
This Could Be The Apotheosis Of Quarantine Dance
It’s Swan Lake Bath Ballet, “a contemporary take on the classic featuring 27 A-list ballet dancers performing from their own bathtubs. The BBC commissioned the project from choreographer Corey Baker. And while you might be imagining a lighthearted, soapy romp …, the result has striking beauty and complexity, as well as some gentle splashstick humor.” – Dance Spirit
Theatre As Radio Drama In The Age Of COVID
“This is theater of the mind, you know?” Wild says. “We do so much vocal work in the program, so much text work, so much breaking down a scene — What is this character doing? What do they want? What are they after? How do we portray that? — and it all transfers to radio.” – Washington Post